It is a sunny, fall day with a temperature of 61 degrees as I look east toward the Blue Ridge from our RV site in the Walnut Hills Campground just south of  Staunton, Virginia.  The colors are a beautiful, if muted, palette of reds, greens, yellows and browns.  The Weather Channel tells us that it is cloudy, cold and rainy in Altoona which we departed yesterday after a month of visiting with all nine of our grandchildren(five in Ohio,three in Maine and one in the Altoona area).  We are embarking on our first time as "snowbird" travelers as we chase "peak color" south along the hardwood ridges of the Appalachians.  The color seems less intense so far this year thanks to drought, excessive warmth, later frost(is that the same as excessive warmth?) or any of a half dozen other reasons we have heard for the phenomenon.  Nonetheless it is a beautiful sight and we plan to enjoy it even as we face this new adventure in retirement living.  

Staunton has been a favorite of ours for many years but always as a one or two day stop.  We are going to stay here for several days and explore some of the sights including Woodrow Wilson's Presidential library, Monticello in Charlottesville, the Blue Ridge and whatever strikes our fancy.  This morning we began slowly with breakfast at a small local cafe called Kathy's where the food was good, service excellent and the windows pretty clean(the latter is my mother's test of a good restaurant) followed by a visit to our favorite chain bookstore(Books-a-Million).  This afternoon includes laundry and reading while soaking in the sight of Laurel and Hardy's Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

We don't know what this full timing adventure holds for us but we have planned carefully and with Cory caring for our house and Erin taking care of mail and business matters we are eager to begin and to share our adventures at storytrax.  See you on the road or the net.